Here’s a peek at my new ALIENS art, launching at New York Comic Con in October, my fall appearance schedule–hyperlinked for your convenience–and a brief interview for the folks attending my free Mathnasium of Whitefish Bay, WI event, where I’m appearing on October 2nd to teach art. Without further adieu, here’s the scoop:

RS: Can you share with our readers your connection to Mathnasium Whitefish Bay?

DD: You (owners Kal and Rohita Shah) are like family to us, and our sons have been best friends since kindergarten. In fact, Kal and I coached their football team together, which remains a very happy memory for me. I’d never been to Whitefish Bay until you moved there, and in a perfect world, outside of my home in Florida, I’d be living in Whitefish Bay. I like that it’s a community where you can walk to everything you need, and nearby Milwaukee is a great city with a great art museum.

RS: What will attendees of the Mathnasium Whitefish Bay event on October 2nd, 2016 experience?

DD: I’m going to teach drawing geometric shapes and how they can be easily transformed into your favorite STAR WARS characters. I will be doing two classes–one at 11 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. Additionally, I’ll have my prints for sale–Star Wars, Batman, Alien, you name it– and I’ll sign anything anyone brings for me to autograph. Autographs are always free.

RS: What projects have you done lately or are working on now?

DD: I’m working on STAR WARS comic book covers for Marvel Comics, superhero trading cards for Upper Deck, and a commemorative ALIENS print for the 30th anniversary of the 2nd ALIENS film. This piece premieres at New York Comic Con on October 6th. I’m also taking in requests and doing a lot of commissioned art for fans worldwide.

RS: What advice would you give young artists?

DD: The main advice I’d give them is to draw as much as they can. The more you draw, the better you get. Draw everything, not just what you like to draw. A good artist should be able to easily draw whatever they’re being asked to draw by an art director or client.

RS: Do you recommend any art schools?

DD: That’s such a personal choice, depending on your particular focus. I’d spend time evaluating each program to find the one best fitting your direction. I had a false start at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, where I majored in art and they had me doing these large, contemporary art gallery pieces, which was not at all my interest. I switched schools my sophomore year and attended the Joe Kubert School in Dover, NJ. That school taught me comic book illustration, which is what I thought I wanted, but then I realized, I was geared more towards telling a whole story with one single illustration, which led me to doing cover art. It was only the Kubert School’s second year in operation, so Joe Kubert advised me to graduate early (he said they’d already taught me everything they could) and he encouraged me to go on my own to learn color illustration. My color work is self taught, but it all boils down to the amount time I spent in front of my drawing board. It took me until I was 25 to sell my first piece, the Heavy Metal magazine cover I did.

Thank you for all who came to see me at San Diego Comic-Con and the other shows I’ve done this year. It means a lot to me. Here are the upcoming shows I’m doing, so we can connect if you’re in the area where I’ll be:

I am a featured guest appearing at Pensaconin Pensacola, Florida this weekend, February 19, 20 and 21. If you are in the area, I hope to see you there! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Autographs are ALWAYS FREE OF CHARGE.

First, let me say that I will be attending the midnight showing of STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS on Thursday night, and–spoiler alert–if you’d like my immediate, personal impressions of the film, our “videographer” son Jack will be interviewing me immediately afterward and posting my interview to his YouTube Channel. Here is a link to his YouTube Channel:

I am a subject matter expert on film–all genres–as well as the STAR WARS universe, so I hope I bring a level of gravitas to the review that will give you information you can use and appreciate.

I found an article online by blogger Greg Aronowitz that expressed my feelings about the STAR WARS movie poster topic far more eloquently and insightfully than I could write it myself. While I cannot judge the movie yet (as I have not seen it)…I can judge what has been offered to the public in its name. I hope I am not let let down by the film the way I have been by the movie poster. Thank you, Greg Aronowitz, for writing this.

Well, now that Lucasfilm has announced the artists selected for the SW Celebration 7 Art Show, I can publicly confirm that I was notselected to participate this year. It is with great sadness and disappointment that I am now announcing this, but the judging has been made, and there is no reversing that.

The judging was done differently this year, asking for comps of the art proposed, then submitted anonymously to be judged. There was no respect for the reputation or the years of good will put in by any artist–just the comp, rough, or finished art submitted for approval.

So…here was my piece–a color rough featuring Vader continuing to pursue the genocide of the Jedi after Order 66. I guess I missed the mark in idea… or perhaps not doing a more finished rough..it’s not EU… ties directly into the gap between EP3 and 4…

I don’t know. And because the judged submissions were anonymous and a one shot deal, I will never know.

What I do know is that I will not have a print available this year at Celebration, nor will I be attending Celebration to support it.

I thank all you who have supported me through the 6 Celebrations (including Europe) where I sold out of prints, and the first Celebration in Denver, which I attended only as a fan. I would like to thank the 501st for their support and helping unselfishly when called to pose for me.

I’d like you to meet our friend Meryl. She is a ceramics artist from Chicago and she has an art teaching degree. She is also a beautiful young mother of two little girls. She just learned–and we just learned–that she has Stage 4 Lung Cancer. You may have caught some of this story from Denise’s blog today as well. As many of you know, I lost my dad to lung cancer in 2002, so I can relate. Unlike my dad, however, she is a non-smoker.

Here is her story, and here is a link to where you can help, if you feel so moved. Also, there’s a link at the end of this blog to provide her with words of encouragement. It would mean a lot to me personally, and to Meryldine and her family. Watch her site often, as we will all be providing items to auction off over time to help pay for her care. If any of you following me wish to offer art or collectibles to auction and help her raise funds, we would be grateful for it.

It was a typical day for Meryl (a healthy non-smoker). But, as she stepped outside on the beautiful fall day to spend time with her family, she noticed her vision was acting strange. She was experiencing a blurriness that she had never noticed before. She attributed it to allergies and continued on with her day.

A few days later, she was still experiencing the blurriness in her vision. It just so happened that her daughter had a doctor’s appointment, so she mentioned it to the doctor during the visit. Before she knew it, she was sent to an Ophthalmologist, then a Retina Specialist, then a Neurologist, an Oncologist, and other specialists.

It was on her 39th birthday, October 7, after 2 weeks of doctor’s appointments, MRIs, CT scans, and blood work, that she received the news that rocked her world. She had Stage IV Lung Cancer (non-small cell adenocarcinoma), and it had metastasized to her lymph nodes, brain and eyes.

Meryl has an amazing spirit and is ready to fight like hell. She has an amazing medical team behind her and so much love and support from family and friends. Most of all, she is inspired and motivated by the spirit and love of her husband and two little girls (2.5 and 5 years old).

This will undoubtedly be a long and difficult road for Meryl and her family. Our goal with Meryldine’s Miracle is to lessen the financial burden during their challenge. All donated funds will go toward things necessary to support her and her family — including groceries, childcare, medical bills and possible alternative medicines or therapies, and more.

Thank you so very much for your support and blessings.

-Meryldine’s Family and Friends

Note:A CaringBridge Site was created for Meryldine. We will use this online space to share health news, and you can write messages of encouragement in return. Please visit often to keep updated and show your support.
Visit: www.caringbridge.org/visit/meryldinedomenz

If any of you follow REDNA, or Ander Kretz, he’s a host of the Ootinicast show on Twitch.TV and tomorrow night he’s interviewing me at 6:30 p.m. Central, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, 4:30 p.m. Pacific. Here’s a link to the site where you can see my Skype video interview live: http://Twitch.TV/R3DN4.

Redna’s show is dedicated to #SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic) which is a game I play nightly, so if you’re a Star Warsfan, the show will cover a lot of that ground.